American Gaming Association

The American Gaming Association (AGA) is a lobbying group for U.S. gambling casinos.

In September 2005, Liz Benston wrote in the Las Vegas Sun that the group is working on a PR campaign to improve its image. According to AGA chief executive Frank Fahrenkopf, the group wants to persuade state officials that current casino taxes are too high in the states where its members operate. 

The tobacco industry has cultivated the AGA as an ally in efforts to stave off legislated smoking restrictions. Philip Morris targeted AGA as an important ally to help fight smokefree laws. page 7 R.J. Reynolds has also targeted AGA as a third party ally to submit testimony before political committes to oppose laws and regulations requiring clean air. AGA President and CEO Frank Fahrenkopf, was a former lobbyist for the Tobacco Institute and more recently has been working with the tobacco industry to prevent casinos from going smoke-free. In 1975, as a representative of the Tobacco Institute, Fahrenkopf insisted publicly in a newspaper article that secondhand tobacco smoke posed no health danger to nonsmokers and that smoking bans posed an economic hazard to businesses. 

Contact details
1299 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Suite 1175 Washington, D.C. 20004 Phone: 202-552-2675 Fax: 202-552-2676 Email: info AT americangaming.org Web: http://www.americangaming.org

Other SourceWatch resources

 * Industry-funded organizations